Electricity in every home by 2019 says PM Narendera Modi

India announces $2.5bn scheme to give every home electricity by 2019

India’s government will fund the project, which will be carried out by the state-run Rural Electrification Corporation. Modi pledged that poor households would be connected to a clean energy source without charge.

Not all homes will be connected to a national grid, however. In some cases solar power systems will be given to villages to replace petrol generators.

The project would help boost demand in the Indian economy. at a time when growth has slowed to 5.7%.

Modi, who will be seeking re-election in 2019, promised to electrify all Indian homes in his 2014 campaign. He said then: “Some 40 million of the total 250 million households still don’t have power, which means 25% of people are living in the 18th century.